The EU and Ghana have signed the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) National Indicative Programme (NIP) in the sum of ?323 million spanning the period of 2014 to 2020. Ghana is among the 15 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) member states that signed the NIP.
The signing ceremony was held on Thursday 19th June, 2014 within the context of the 99th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers and the 39th Session of the ACP EU joint Council of Ministers held in Nairobi, Kenya from 16th to 20th June, 2014.
The Deputy Minister of Finance, Hon. Cassiel Ato Forson, MP who led the Ghana?s Delegation to the meetings, signed on behalf of the Government of Ghana (GoG) and the Hon. Minister of Finance, Ghana, in his capacity as the National Authorising Officer (NAO) for European Development Fund (EDF) in Ghana, while the EU Commissioner for Development, Mr Andris Piebargs signed for the European Commission..
The 11th EDF NIP for Ghana is within the framework of the EU Joint Programming been formulated with its eight (8) member states, namely; The Netherlands; United Kingdom; Denmark; Germany; France; Spain, Italy and Czech Republic.
The NIP is a bilateral development financing arrangement between the Government of Ghana (GoG) and the EU and covers the period 2014 – 2020.
The NIP provides total financial envelope in the sum of ?323.0 million non-repayable grant for the three (3) identified thematic/focal areas of Governance, Agriculture and Social Protection. The financing scenario is depicted by the table below:
The Council of Ministers Sessions held in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together Ministers or their representatives from the 79 ACP member states and met with their EU counterparts to take decisions on aspects of trade cooperation, development strategies and development finance, as well as migration (specifically visas, remittances and readmission) among a host of other issues. The Ministers also assessed the state of play of the Economic Partnership Agreements in the various six regions of the ACP Group of States
On Thursday 19th June, 2014, the Ministers discussed issues related to various commodities, including Cotton, Sugar, Banana and Cocoa. During discussions, the Hon. Ato Forson made a declaration on behalf of the ACP Group of States.
The declaration was to the effect that, the ?Geneva Agreement? on Banana was concluded in December 2009 with the aim of finding definitive solutions to the banana problem, which represent a vector for development and a powerful factor for the More-Favoured-Nations (MFNs) and the ACP States.
This Agreement includes Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM) which was intended to offset losses in revenue, and to promote investment and diversification in the ACP banana sector. Even though the MFNs immediately benefited from reduced customs duties after the signature of the Agreement, the ACP States had to wait for four years before they obtained the first disbursement of funds from the BAM.
This imbalance in the acquired gains from the Geneva Agreement will even further be exacerbated by the EU signing free-trade agreements with the main rival states of ACP banana-producing countries. This situation is contributing not to the further erosion of the remaining preferences but also, and above all, to building the capacity of the MFNs.
Consequently, since the appearance of the ?Panama Disease? in areas outside of where it originated (South East Asia), ACP banana producers and exporters have been increasingly worried. Given the virulence of this Fungus and the limited research resources, the ACP States are calling for scientific assistance from the EU to stem the propagation of the disease. In accordance with the Geneva Agreement on the Trade in Banana and in light of new threats to the competiveness of ACP bananas, the ACP Group reiterated the following issues for consideration by the EU:
Review the situation in the banana sector in ACP countries, so as to assess the impact of the BAM;
Provide additional support in the sum of ?10 million for ACP banana-producing countries, included in the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas; and
Take the banana sector into account in the framework of the intra-ACP programming under the 11th EDF in order to consolidate efforts for diversification
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Source Ministry of Finance
